Rincon, Puerto Rico

Rincon is the surf capital of Puerto Rico and possibly of the entire Northern Hemisphere. This laid-back island surf town is located on the west coast of Puerto Rico. I have been on the island at least a dozen times but never found my way to this hippie, ex-pat filled, edge of the island.
My last week of sabbatical I found myself in Puerto Rico with our group of friends. After a few days of fun with the group in San Juan and a ferry trip over to Culebra, our group was down to just four with a few extra days and nothing to do but explore…so we headed for Rincon.

It is at least a two and one-half hour drive from the San Juan airport to Rincon. We encountered a short detour due to road construction and our GPS took us up and down the narrow, winding roads through the hills of Rincon until the road leveled out by the ocean and Pelican Point, our condominium for the next two nights. We were located on the strip known for its bars, restaurants and shops…situated next door to Tamboo, with its beautiful roof-top deck where we watched the sun set our first night.

 
Immediately it was apparent that this was a surf town. Our bedroom had a rack for surfboards above the bed. Outside, cars rumbled past with boards on the roof or hanging out the back. On the beach, surfers bobbed up and down in the surf waiting to catch a wave. As we walked around that evening it became obvious that we heard nothing but American accents, making us forget that we were still in Puerto Rico.

The next day we drove around town, stopping for an amazing breakfast with an even more amazing view at the English Rose set up high on a hill above the coast. From there we stopped at one of the many small beaches in town. Back at our condo, I waited for the waves to die down before I waded into the water. I was just beginning to float and enjoy the water when the first big wave knocked me down and carried me out about twenty feet. Panicked, I struggled to get to shore, exhausted and out of breath, I was covered with sand from being thrown about in the surf.

 

I always thought I was a strong swimmer and I aspired to take surfing lessons one day. After my experience at Rincon, however, it was Ocean-1 to Sue-0 and I instantly lost my urge to be a surfer. Rincon, I concluded, is a great place to get away for a few days. However, if you are looking for a place to swim in Rincon, stick to the swimming pools unless you are carrying a surfboard.

Rome. Why not?

Two years ago we went to Rome with four of our neighbors.  Whenever someone in the group suggested something, we all enthusiastically chimed in with "Why not?" and that became the tagline of our trip.  When our good friends The Nicolellas told us their son would be spending a semester abroad in Rome and asked if we wanted to join them on their trip to see him, without hesitation we said "Why not?"

My sabbatical was winding down and we were scheduled to be in Dublin in February so we decided to piggyback the two trips. Another couple, Ed and Stacey, were going as well, and at the last minute our daughter was able to join us and bunk with Abbi Nicolella who had also booked the trip with her parents. 

I was the first one to check-in at our hotel and texted the others that they failed to mention to me that our hotel had a rooftop bar. Turns out that we put that roof to good use, having happy hour there each night while watching the stars come out over our little neighborhood in Trestevere.

As soon as the gang arrived, they shook off their jet lag on a bike tour of Rome. Our guide Francesco took us through back alleys and sidewalks as he tried to keep us away from the motor vehicles. I joked that no one had time to worry about how sleepy they were…they were too busy worrying about being run over.

We covered an impressive amount of Rome during the three hour tour. We started with the Jewish Ghetto. From there we rode up a hill for an amazing view of the Roman Forum. Next was the Colosseum and Circus Maximus. We pedaled up yet another hill (we asked for it, but complained anyway) where Francesco pointed out a magical keyhole which you looked into for a perfect view of St. Peter's Basilica. The rest of the trip was thankfully downhill, but the worst traffic we encountered was the crowd of pedestrians sandwiched between Piazza Navona and Campo di Fiori.

Back at our hotel, we agreed we earned the right to eat some carbs that night. We met Jake at his favorite spot, Tony's, in Trestevere. Jake had been there before because they offer a student special. It was Friday night and we were lucky to get a table as the restaurant filled up with long tables of students. After dinner, the adults returned to the hotel lobby while the three young-adults went looking for a night club. The story is that they found one, but Casey (who speaks Italian) had a little misunderstanding with the bouncer.
Saturday was Valentine's Day and Debi booked another first for me: a tour of a vineyard in Italy. We rode out into the countryside to a castle now used as a winery. After touring the main building and chapel, we stopped for some wine tasting in the wine cellar which is also a retail shop. We saw several customers in line waiting to fill their 5 gallon jugs from the large vat. Next, we were escorted to the estate's trattoria for lunch the Italian way. First we had enough appetizers to feed an army. Next came the pasta, orecchiette with broccoli for the vegetarians in the group. At this point, we were all stuffed but the courses kept coming. Next was the second course…a platter of assorted grilled meats. Dessert was a trio of Italian specialties. Of course all of these were served with the estate wine.

On our return to Rome we all swore that we would never eat again. We hiked for hours all the way from Jake's apartment back to our hotel.  People were out everywhere celebrating Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year and Carnivals all at once.  By the time we got home, we worked up a thirst and needed some pizza to go along with our beer and wine.  Trestevere is known for its pizza and we found a place nearby filled with locals and we marveled at the wood-fired pizza oven and the skill of the pizza makers.

Sunday was spent exploring the Trestevere street market/antique fair and then strolling the grounds of Villa Borghese. In the evening, we visited our friend Giovanni the owner of the Steelers bar in Rome. We left our hotel at 10:00 a.m. and didn't return for fourteen hours. Exhausted, we returned to our spot on the roof for star-gazing and storytelling because ….why not?

Rome, feels like home

I have been traveling now for five months. When I boarded the Leonardo Express train from Fiumicino to Termini it felt like I was going home. After having my first trip to Asia, and the even less "Western" countries of Indonesia and Cambodia, Italy seemed so familiar. I've had the pleasure of vacationing in Rome several times in my life and I love everything about the Eternal City, both ancient and modern: vendors hawking their goods on every corner, street pizza, the absence of Starbuck's, the city's walkability (the subway system is limited because every time they start digging they turn up another archeological site), to name a few. 

 I couldn't wait to put my feet on the cobbled streets of Rome once again and was happy to see it was sunny and 55° in February. My memory was pretty good as I found my way from our hotel in Trastevere into the center of town. When I was hungry, I had no problem walking into a neighborhood bar/café' and ordering a Panini at the stand-up counter.

My husband had a business meeting so I had the calmness of strolling the ancient streets at my leisure. Our plan was to meet at the long, oval-shaped Piazza Navona at four o'clock in the afternoon at the Bernini designed Fontana Dei Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers). I arrived early and decided to use the extra time to tour the Museo di Roma located at the end of the Piazza.  I must have walked past this museum a hundred times before, never bothering to see the drawings, sculptures and paintings inside.

Museo di Roma

It was my lucky day because a special exhibition of "dream dresses" were on display in the museum along with the art collections. The limited exhibit showcased Italian costume designers and their gowns made for films. The dresses were arranged in the lavish rooms of the gilded museum. While some dresses were made for Italian films that I had never heard of, the majority were American films…..many of which I had seen. I was tickled to be able to see up-close these gorgeous creations worn by starlets such as: Audrey Hepburn in War and Peace, Keira Knightly in Anna Karenina and Kirsten Dunst in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. This included the one-of-a-kind pink, jewel-encrusted Manolo Blahnik mules from Marie Antoinette.

Gowns from War and Peace

Gown and shoes from Marie Antoinette

Another first for me was our visit the following day to the Galleria Borghese. On previous trips I was always busy taking first-timers to see the spectacular outdoor art, like the Roman Forum, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and Vatican. Plus, the one day I did try to see this indoor art museum, I found out that you needed advance reservations.
This trip I was prepared and we had a reservation with an admission time of 11:00-1:00 p.m. (They only allow you inside for two hours.) The museum is located in a former palace built by Cardinal Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V, to hold what was probably the world's greatest private art collection. The Villa Borghese is the name for the former family estate which is now an expansive public park in central Rome. It is such a large place, it took us a while to FIND the Galleria Borghese palace and we had to rush through the park filled with joggers, bicycle riders and park bench sitters.

Galleria Borghese

Once we entered the foyer, I was immediately impressed with the amount of marble on the floors and walls and the frescos and mosaics in every room. The ground floor contains the sculptures and the top floor the collection of paintings. However, the rooms themselves are works of art from the floor to the ceiling. Also, it is rather small as galleries go so it is very manageable to see everything in the allotted time.

I have seen a lot of famous art during my sabbatical (visits to the Prado, Guggenheim, and Getty museums), but the Bernini sculptures which reside in the Galleria Borghese may be my favorite. First of all, they are exhibited in the very place where the sculptor intended. Cardinal Borghese, it is said, used his papal connections to employ the greatest artists of his time and commissioned works to fill his grand palace. When Bernini sculpted, he envisioned how the sculpture would fill the room. A centerpiece is his famous Daphne and Apollo. The myth goes that Daphne is being pursued by Apollo and asks her father to turn her into something to save her from this man. Just as Apollo grasps her, Daphne turns into a laurel tree and Bernini immortalizes her as her limbs turn into bark.

Daphne and Apollo

Another work by Bernini is the very sexy sculpture of Napoleon Bonaparte's sister who married a Borghese. The work remains in the Galleria Borghese, but many of the fabulous pieces from the Borghese collection migrated to France (at the hands of Napoleon) and are now housed in the Louvre.

Pauline Bonaparte

Kilkenny, Ireland

I had never heard the term "freezing fog" used in a weather forecast (as opposed to "warm" fog?), but that was what I read as we left Dublin early one Sunday morning in mid-February. Our destination: Kilkenny, which is a small city south of Dublin. I chose Kilkenny because of its proximity to Dublin and the fact that it is on the rail line and we were not planning on hiring a car. Since we only had two spare days in Ireland, the two hour train ride from Dublin would leave us plenty of time for exploring once we arrived in Kilkenny.

We walked a few blocks from the train station into the center of town and found the Hibernian Hotel. We stepped into the lobby with its rich red walls and hunter green accents that highlighted the beautiful mahogany woodwork around the registration desk.  We were greeted by the warm fireplace burning nearby. After checking in, we stayed long enough to take off the chill by having a pot of tea in the deep leather chairs next to the fireplace in the hotel pub and I thought to myself that is exactly what one should be doing on a freezing fog Sunday afternoon in Ireland.

The next stop was an obvious and definite choice: Kilkenny Castle. The castle was taken over by the State in 1969 and restored to look like a mid-19^th century home. It sits upon the River Nore and the stone structure dates back to the 13^th century. It had been the home to the powerful Butler family for over 600 years. The family received their surname as they were once butler to the King of England. The Long Gallery with its glass roof displays portraits of the former occupants. Directly across the street housed in the former stables is the Kilkenny Design Centre with their locally made goods. 

 The next two days we strolled around the main tourist sites such as 6^TH century St. Canice's Cathedral with its stained glass windows and walked through the graveyard with the ornate tombstones where we climbed its round tower for a view of the city. We left the cathedral and strolled the quaint High Street with its shops and pubs.

 We visited the Rothe House and Garden, the Tudor home of a former merchants and their 12 children in the early 1600's. The house is educational as to how the family lived and features a re-created vegetable and herb garden and orchard. In fact, a group of school children were on a tour and we listened as they received their lesson.

Kilkenny is a brew town, home of not only Kilkenny beer, but Smithwick's. Probably one of the most high-tech brewery tours around, The Smithwick's Experience talks you on an audiovisual tour of the Smithwick family and their brewery.
Another thing Kilkenny is known for is its music. Both of the evenings that we were in town, Sunday and Monday nights, we strolled from pub to pub to hear the local bands that ranged from a six-piece rock band to two guys with a guitar, flute and harmonica. My husband's favorite were the two old lads that played a mandolin and drum and paused for folk stories and poetry recitations in between sets.

 

We were sorry to leave on Tuesday morning, but glad that we had two days to experience life in Ireland outside of big-city Dublin.